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The Great James Bond Double Feature Excercise
NicNac
Administrator, Moderator
This may actually be an old idea for a thread, and it links in with the BONDATHON thread, but I decided to try and pare up all 24 films into 12 double features. In each case the two films have a common link of some sort.
Several were quite easy and jumped out immediately (Casino Royale paired with OHMSS as 'Bond falling in love' for instance). As I got down to the last 6 I had to swap others around to somehow make them fit. I was sort of proud of the DAD/Spectre link.
So this is my list, and will form my next mega-viewing of the films. If anyone wants to chip in with their pairings as, believe you me, there are plenty other ways to do this, then please add your own list to the thread.
Goldfinger / A View To A Kill – Villains with similar plans to increase their own stock value
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service / Casino Royale – Bond in Love.
Moonraker / You Only Live Twice – Astronaut Bond
GoldenEye/ Diamonds Are Forever – Satellite destruction
Quantum Of Solace / For Your Eyes Only – Vengeful young ladies team up with Bond against common enemy
From Russia With Love / The Man With The Golden Gun – Lektors? Golden bullets? It’s a trap Mr Bond!
Skyfall / The World Is Not Enough – Bond to the rescue…of M
Live And Let Die /Licence To Kill - drug barons of the world unite.
Octopussy / Tomorrow Never Dies – An enemy trying to turn countries against one another
Die Another Day/Spectre - Extreme locations – the hot and the cold.
The Spy Who Loved Me /Thunderball – Let’s start with the destruction of a few major cities..
The Living Daylights /Dr No – Villains taking their past rejection very badly!
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Dr. No/Live and Let Die - Bond actor's first film set in the Caribbean featuring one of the Quarrels.
From Russia with Love/Casino Royale - Bond is lured into a trap by the Bond girl.
Goldfinger/The Man with the Golden Gun - 007 is up against a legendary villain with an obsession for golden items.
Thunderball/Moonraker- Epic 007 film that starts off with a mid-air hijacking.
You Only Live Twice/Quantum of Solace- A single location vs. all out globe-trotting.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service/Licence to Kill - The first two Bond films that made the character vulnerable before that was fashionable.
Diamonds Are Forever/Die Another Day - Bond actor's final (EON) outing with the villain using a giant space laser.
The Spy Who Loved Me/The World Is Not Enough - Bond actor's third film with one or more submarines essential to the plot and featuring a non-Aston Martin gadget car.
For Your Eyes Only/Tomorrow Never Dies - A sinking ship starts off a plot that involves a decoding machine.
Octopussy/The Living Daylights - Bond up against a pair of villains in a Cold War-themed film.
A View to a Kill/Skyfall - Blond-haired psycho double feature.
GoldenEye/Spectre - Bond faces someone from his past.
Very good @GoldenGun ,every one of those double features make perfect sense,well done !
Especially like these last 3 GoldenGun.
I'm sure @Birdleson has some nifty ideas
I’m always looking to new way to do my Bondathons, so how about focusing on locations -
DN/LALD – Jamaica
TB/GE – Caribbean
FRWL/MR – Venice
GF/OHMSS – Switzerland
DAF/AVTAK – U.S Cities
TMWTGG/SF - Macau
LTK/QOS – Central America
OP/TND – Germany
TLD/SP – Austria & Morocco
YOLT/DAD – Hong Kong
FYEO/TWINE – Spain
CR/Spy – Africa
* I was left with YOLT and TLD, but I couldn’t square them away, so I had to do a bit of rejigging
DN/LALD/LTK - This serves as a trilogy of sorts so you could break it up either way. DN/LALD is a Bond actor's first film. Jamaica, Quarrels, Felix Leiters. A spider/snake is put in Bond's hotel room to kill him. The main villain is a Doctor. LALD/LTK has the David Hedison connection. Bond in America. Bond taking down a drug lord.
FRWL/TMWTGG - In the PTS, the villain (whom Bond will later have a showdown with) waits in the shadows and kills a man. Plus, a fake Bond is attacked. Bond is lured into a trap and must recover some sort of device. Belly dancers. Bond had a chance for a three way! The main ally has family members that assist Bond. Bond slaps a woman around.
GF/OP - Bond catches the main villain cheating at a game. A silent henchman who crushes something in his hands. The main Bond girl has the word pussy in her name. Also, each one has a circus : Pussy Galore's Flying Circus vs. Octopussy's Circus. There are a number of women under each one's command. Additionally, each one also appears to be in cahoots with the main villain. There is a race to stop an atomic bomb from exploding at a location guarded by the U.S. army. Bond has a final confrontation with the main villain on a plane.
TB/NSNA - Original vs. remake.
YOLT/TSWLM/TND - Another trilogy of sorts, so pair it up either way. YOLT/TSWLM are of course Gilbert films. The villain has a device that swallows up spaceships/submarines. Bond in a naval uniform on board a submarine. The villain wants to start a nuclear war. The villain's female employee is eaten alive by killer fish of some sort. Bond frees the astronauts/sailors and leads an assault on the villain's highly fortified/impregnable control room. Bond fights a villain/villains on a rooftop. TSWLM/TND has Bond paired up with a female agent from a rival nation and a romantic connection forms. Again, Bond in a naval uniform. The villain is wreaking havoc with submarines, trying to start a war. I do enjoy @GoldenGun's FYEO/TND pairing. A British ship is sabotaged and Bond must find some sort of device. Bond later ends up diving into the sunken ship to investigate.
OHMSS/FYEO - The obvious Tracy/Blofeld in a wheelchair connection. Bond in a blue ski suit, being chased by the villains. Bond being captured by the ally's men before joining sides with him. The main villain hiding out on top of a mountain. A main character has a loved one/ones brutally murdered right in front of them. Bobsleds. Skating. I know I'm in the minority, but i see FYEO as a great continuation of the OHMSS story arc, with an older and wiser Bond. I suppose you could also include LTK in the conversation, as finding Della may have reminded Bond of Tracy, thus igniting his rage.
DAF/DAD - Bond thinks he has killed the villain in the PTS, only to be confronted by him later in the film. Diamonds. Plastic surgery/gene therapy. The satellite weapon. Plenty is drowned/Jinx attempted drowning.
DAF/AVTAK - The last official outing for two legends. American Bond girl. Dumb police captain during a chase in a western American city. Bond is sent to investigate diamonds/horses but uncovers something far more sinister.
YOLT/SF Bond "dies" in the PTS. Asian settings.
TMWTGG/SF - Macau. Both have elements from TMWTGG novel.
LTK/QoS - Vengeful Bond. Going rogue. Felix Leiter. Final confrontation with the main villain in a desert.
TWINE/SF - Someone from M's past come back to haunt her. Bond must overcome an injury suffered in the PTS.
Will post my own list of double features soon (some of which I've actually done in the past)!
Also, I like the Central American revenge connection between LTK and QoS.
Casino Royale / Quantum of Solace - Two halves of the same story (not the most original idea, of course, but certainly the most natural pairing imaginable)
Licence to Kill / The World Is Not Enough - Two of the first "This time it's personal" missions (avenging Della and Felix vs. rescuing M and facing the betrayal of a lover), references to OHMSS without directly involving SPECTRE, dreary settings with spectacular action, two pairs of seriously bodacious babes, lots of love for Desmond Llewelyn
Thunderball / Moonraker - 4th outings, confident and relaxed Bond performances amidst luxurious action-adventure epic backdrops, under the sea vs. up in outer space, underwater shark and python battles, street carnival set-pieces, prime Barry
On Her Majesty's Secret Service / A View to a Kill - From the youngest Bond performance to the oldest, both feature one of Barry's most beautiful love themes as well as one of his most powerful marching action themes, snow business, a clunky second act car chase, a former star of The Avengers, Bond disturbingly surprised in bed by villain's lover, and something feels just a bit darker than usual about the psychoses driving either villain
You Only Live Twice / Tomorrow Never Dies - Plot to ignite WWIII, streamlined action extravaganzas, Red Grant knockoffs, Bond in naval suit, prominent Asian setting, car chase without Bond at the wheel ;), all-out explosive climaxes
Octopussy / GoldenEye - Planes, trains, and automobiles, crazy Russian generals, references to the Cold War, jungle settings, plot to wreak havoc on the West/London disguised as mere theft/smuggling, Bond dresses like a gorilla in one (King Kong) and is called a dinosaur (Gojira) in the other
Diamonds Are Forever / Die Another Day - One a virtual remake of the other what with the killer satellites, trail of diamonds, plastic surgery disguises, Plentiful Fountains of O'Toole, wonky special effects, questionable celebrity cameos, and rampant absurdity
Live & Let Die / Skyfall - Two of the more horror-inflected Bond films from L&LD's Baron Samedi and voodoo business to Skyfall's skull and grave imagery and Silva's grotesque facial deformity, train-based action, reptile-hopping, atypical musical scores, captive women desperate for Bond's rescue
Goldfinger / The Man with the Golden Gun - Villain uses a golden gun (too on the nose?), vertically-challenged but well-dressed henchman manservant with bowler hat, good-hearted female switches sides, "shimmering" Barry music evocative of gold, European villain somehow connected to Asians, assassination of business partner who has outlived his usefulness
Dr. No / The Living Daylights - Two classic Bond debuts, Bond turns the tables on an assassination attempt, nicely bookends Barry's involvement with the series from orchestrating the James Bond theme to "If There Was a Man"
From Russia With Love / For Your Eyes Only - Bond vs. Russians, down-to-earth spy thrillers, plots centering around MacGuffin device, believable romances without much excess story drama, helicopter action, buff blonde Aryan henchmen, appearances by Blofeld (with cat)
The Spy Who Loved Me / Spectre - Beyond the obvious homages of Hinx's silent henchman, the train fight and subsequent lovemaking, and the desert setting, if I may permit myself to be perfectly honest here as well as a bit of a Debbie Downer, I personally find these two to be the most interminably boring Bond films of all time, so it would be nice to get them out of the way in one go and ensure myself a tremendously solid night's sleep to boot (given the sheer numbers of fans of either film out there, your mileage will surely vary)
I've tried and enjoyed a few of these before, including CR/QoS, TB/MR, OHMSS/AVtaK, YOLT/TND, and DAF/DAD.
Otherwise, that's great fodder for a fresh Bondathon.
I like the many GF and OP similarities.There really are quite a few.
I've always thought a Red Grant knockoff festival would be fun. Poor Bond might think that Mr red wine with fish had been cloned.
FRWL YOLT FYEO TLD TND
It's been a while. I think we are due.
I was referring to the first example, but hey, whatever floats your boat! As long as Hip's nieces are of age, of course.
I like your LALD/SF pairing. Many of those connections hadn't occurred to me before. Nice job.
Yes, and someone on another thread reminded me of yet another one. Bond in the water disguised as an animal!
It's also quite interesting that after taking Bond to the depths of the ocean in TSWLM, EON next catapulted him off into the farthest reaches of space. In many ways TSWLM and MR were destined to follow one another, and watching them back to back must be quite thrilling because of their variety and environmental extremes.
Let’s start with YOLT as it’s a difficult bugger to pair off with another film -
>YOLT
(Hong Kong/Purvis and Wade said that DAD was meant to recall YOLT)
>DAD
(DAD shares Cuba with...)
>GE
(which shares France with..)
>AVTAK
(U.S.A)
>DAF
(Africa)
>TSWLM
(Austria)
>SP
(Morocco)
>TLD
(Slovakia which used to be part of the Czech Republic)
>CR
(Bahamas)
>TB
(which is a region of the Caribbean as is...)
>DN
(which is a region of the Caribbean as is...)
>LALD
(U.S.A)
>GF
(Switzerland)
>OHMSS
(Portugal, which is part of the Iberian region...)
>TWINE
(Spain)
>FYEO
(Italy)
>FRWL
(Turkey)
>SF
(China, located off of China’s Eastern Sea is Okinawa...)
>TND
(Ha Long Bay)
>TMWTGG
(Thailand which borders Burma, which borders India)
>OP
(Central America)
>QoS
(Central America)
>LTK
(U.S.A)
>MR
Edit- I see @royale65 already mentioned the FRWL/MR connection.
In light of that, I want to mix it up this time around. This time I would like to do things that connect the films, either blatantly, such as plot points and locations say, or rather something more tenuous.
For starters I'll watch The World Is Not Enough followed by Skyfall - both have some interesting connections -
- Both have the villains going after MI6 and M
- Both have subverted Bond Girls - one is a villain, one is M.
Can you think of any connection between Skyfall and the Bond movie your suggesting? It could be any connection, how ever tenuous.
@Birdleson, you're rather good at this. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
From Russia with Love & The Living Daylights
I put these two together because I think TLD is very much a film constructed in tribute to FRWL. They both have a naive and innocent Bond girl caught between the good and bad side who is used by those she trusts, part of the plot involves crossing into Cold War territory with a heavy Soviet presence, Necros is essentially Grant-Lite, and the villains of each are playing the Brits and Russia against one another under false pretenses.
The driving force of the narrative in TLD, the words Smiert Spionam that Koskov uses to plant seeds of fear into the minds of the British to paint the Russian KGB as monsters, is also a direct connection to SMERSH, the Russian intelligence agency that the 60s Bond was more than familiar with and who he faced in the novels. The agency is mentioned quite openly in FRWL, and the name-drop they get in TLD connects the pair nicely.
Goldfinger & Diamonds Are Forever
For much the same reasons I chose to pair FRWL and TLD for what they shared, GF and DAF have a similar range of similarities as films.
It was clear that with DAF EON were scrambling to recapture the feeling and essence of GF following OHMSS. The proof is all there to see, from the choice to get Connery back as Bond (with a historically hefty price tag) to Guy Hamilton filling out the directing gig and Shirley Bassey returning as the songstress of the movie’s opening tune after her debut in GF. In addition, the team went about creating a script that is a bit more light-hearted and loose than expected in a plot that swaps out the smuggling of gold with that of diamonds, takes Bond back to America for the first time since 1964, and throws a leading Bond girl into the mix whose morals are cloudy until she joins up with the spy in the 11th hour just as Pussy Galore did in GF. If that's not enough, we're also familiar with the original plot of DAF, where Goldfinger's twin brother (also played by Gert Fröbe) would've appeared on the scene to kill Bond in revenge for what he did to Auric many films ago.
Licence To Kill & Quantum of Solace
Again, the theme of similar films continues. Both QoS and LTK set about to be stripped back and at times earnest and "gritty" films in their content in comparison to other entries in the series, and each often push the limits of violence in the series and also show Bond as unusually beaten, bloodied and bruised by what he faces in the mission. There's a point in each film where Bond is at odds with M and must overcome his own agency to do his job, a Bond girl in each film is heavily connected to the main villain as their girlfriend of sorts, the main villains are far more conventional or grounded forces with a view on drugs and bartering/coups/blackmail respectively, both main Bond girls are in a similar line of enforcement/spying as Bond, and each film ends with action focused on explosions and flames that leave Bond and the villain scorched and bloody.
I could probably add more, but those are my biggest suggestions as of now.
I also think TSWLM and OP go really well together. No particular similarities, just that they're the best Roger Moore films imo, and would make a fun double bill if you wanted more than a couple of hours of him at his best.
Never thought about that connection at all before. Good call.
Was it also you who suggested pretending Stromberg was Blofeld during TSWLM @Birdleson? Never thought of that before but I think it'd work quite well and also form a nice double bill with OHMSS with that in mind.